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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27146903">Replaced</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/storm_aurora/pseuds/storm_aurora'>storm_aurora</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Armory Archives [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Canon Blending, F/M, Hop needs a therapist, Schilly is loud, Self-Esteem Issues, a little bit of fluff at the beginning because of who I am as a person, bc we don't know exactly how Hop's arc in Spe is gonna go yet and I'm impatient, self-deprecating thoughts</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 22:01:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,175</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27146903</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/storm_aurora/pseuds/storm_aurora</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Schilly runs into Hop in Stow-on-Side, he's eager to show off his new team to her. But Schilly is less than pleased to find out why he has them.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hop/Schildemilia Tate</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Armory Archives [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2048726</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Replaced</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Celebrating the release of Crown Tundra with...uh, a piece that hurt my heart to write :') I know it's looking like the whole Bede &amp; Hop confrontation isn't going to happen in Spe, but for lack of a better way to break Hop's confidence we're going to pretend that it happened anyways &lt;3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Hey! Schildemilia!”</p><p>Schilly’s head jerked up at the familiar voice. She glanced around Stow-on-Side’s market and spotted Hop waving at her from the other side of the bustling square. A grin spread across her face without conscious thought and she eagerly waved back. “Hop!!”</p><p>She jogged across the square to meet him, weaving through the other shoppers and trying not to step on any Pokémon’s toes. He was beaming like usual, that cheeky little smile that could light up a room. Standing at his side – and looking considerably less enthusiastic – was a Raboot.</p><p>“Oh!! You have a Raboot, too? I didn’t know that!!” Schilly exclaimed, bending down so she could pet its head. It still didn’t smile, but it did close its eyes – a sign of a happy Raboot if she’d ever seen one.</p><p>“I just added it to my team! Lee gave it to me,” Hop said. He put his hands on his hips. “Speaking of which…you should meet them! My new team!”</p><p>Schilly’s brow furrowed, and she stopped petting Raboot to give Hop an inquisitive look. “Your new team?”</p><p>Hop nodded, his eyes sparkling with excitement. “Come on out, everyone!”</p><p>He tossed three Poké Balls into the air and three Pokémon burst out: a Toxel, a Silicobra, and a Boltund. Boltund barked and immediately jumped at Schilly, making her yelp and almost fall over in its eagerness to start sniffing all over her. Hop laughed, and Schilly found herself giggling too – Boltund’s nose was wet and tickled against her skin.</p><p>“I think Boltund really likes me!!” she said with a grin. But her grin faded as she glanced over Hop’s team members again. “Where are your other Pokémon? Snorlax and Pincurchin and the others?”</p><p>“Oh, well…” Hop shrugged. “It just wasn’t working out with them, so I sent them home. I needed to start over if I wanted to get stronger, so I’ve been working on building a new team! What do you think? Do you like ’em?” He glanced up at Schilly earnestly.</p><p>And finally saw the look of horror on her face.</p><p>“Y-you…you <em>replaced</em> your team!?”</p><p>“It – I had to!” Hop said defensively. “I told you what Bede said. I can’t afford to be <em>weak</em>. I c-can’t drag Lee d-down like that…”</p><p>“Then you keep training!! You work with your Pokémon and develop new strategies to get stronger!! You don’t <em>replace</em> your Pokémon partners!!” Schilly yelled, anger seeping into her voice. “Pokémon training isn’t like – like <em>dating</em>!! You can’t just break up with your Pokémon because things ‘<em>aren’t working out</em>’!! What about the bonds!? What about the <em>friendship</em>!? Doesn’t that mean <em>anything</em> to you!?”</p><p>Hop was visibly flinching, but Schilly wasn’t done yet. “Why do you think I’ve spent the last year searching for my missing Pokémon!? Because I know that my precious Pokémon partners aren’t just <em>things</em> that can be replaced!! I won’t settle for any team other than my partners!! I thought – I thought you understood that, helping me find Kilo…but obviously I was wrong!!”</p><p>Schilly stopped her rant, breathing heavily, and chanced another look at Hop. Was he…crying? She ignored the guilt that twisted in her gut. She couldn’t afford to care about a Trainer who was so heartless towards his Pokémon. She turned on her heel and started to walk back into the crowd, but Hop caught her hand.</p><p>“Sch-schildemilia, I–”</p><p>“Don’t talk to me!!” she snapped, yanking her hand out of his grasp. She looked back at him, tears pooling in her eyes to mirror his. “If you can’t become stronger with your own partners, then…maybe you’re not a good Trainer at all.”</p><p>Schilly slipped away into the crowd, ignoring the small, desperate voice in her heart that pleaded for her to turn around and take the words back.</p><p>It was too late for that, now.</p>
<hr/><p>“Maybe you’re not a good Trainer at all.”</p><p>It was the quietest Hop had ever heard her speak.</p><p>He watched with blurry vision as Schildemilia slipped away from him. He desperately wanted to chase after her, to grab her and not let go, to beg her to show him what he was missing – how he could be a good Trainer like her and Lee. But she’d made it quite clear how she felt about him now, and he needed to respect her wishes.</p><p>He screwed everything else up, but at least he could give her that courtesy.</p><p>A stranger tapped him on the shoulder, asked if he was okay. Hop scrubbed furiously at his eyes and told her that he was fine. He returned all his Pokémon and jogged away from the square – if he was going to break down into a sniveling, blubbering mess, the least he could do was find somewhere private to do it instead of standing out in the open, in everyone else’s way.</p><p>He slumped against the back wall of a building, pulling his legs to his chest and burying his face in his knees. He let out a sob. How had everything gone so spectacularly wrong?</p><p>He had been ecstatic to see Schildemilia in Stow-on-Side. Not only was it a delight just to see her again, but he also wanted her to meet his new team. They were going to be his new partners, so it only seemed right for his best mate and rival to meet them. And…a part of him craved her approval, hearing her say that he had done the right thing by replacing his whole team.</p><p>He would laugh at the irony if he wasn’t too busy crying.</p><p>Hop hadn’t even considered that she might liken it to the situation with her missing Pokémon. Of course he didn’t think she should give up on her Pokémon – they were her partners! He understood how important the bond between Pokémon and Trainer was, and he wanted her to be able to preserve it. That’s why he’d helped her reunite with Kilo, and that’s why he would still be on the lookout for her other Pokémon – even if she didn’t want his help anymore. But the thing was, Hop’s situation wasn’t the same.</p><p>…was it?</p><p>Was there really a difference between choosing to switch out the Pokémon on his team because they weren’t strong enough, and adding new Pokémon to her team to replace the ones she lost?</p><p><em>You work with your Pokémon and develop new strategies to get stronger!! You don’t </em>replace<em> your Pokémon partners!!</em></p><p>Guilt churned in his gut. He was a pathetic Trainer who had to replace his partners so he wouldn’t be weak. He was a disgraceful sibling who only dragged down his brother’s good name. He was a terrible person who had lost the one friend that he had made on his journey – who also happened to be his crush. What was he even still doing on the Gym Challenge? He didn’t deserve his endorsement. He should just quit now and save himself the embarrassment of continuing.</p><p>Schildemilia was right. The problem was never his Pokémon. The problem was Hop all along.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Feel free to yell at me in the comments. This one was rough ;-;</p></blockquote></div></div>
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